Energy Micro to showcase cool customer apps at embedded world

The guys and gals at Energy Micro, who cheerfully describe themselves as "The energy friendly microcontroller and radio company," will showcase a number of customer applications for their EFM32 Gecko families of ARM-based microcontrollers (MCUs) at Embedded World 2013. These will demonstrate how energy efficient devices greatly extend battery life in real-world products.

On show will be products spanning various industry sectors for such diverse uses as dive watches, avalanche monitors, home automation controls, and utility meters. Velux, a company well-known for its roof windows and blinds, has selected the EFM32 Giant Gecko microcontroller for the touch screen interface in its award winning 'Velux Integra' series of electric window remote controls. PIEPS GmbH, a long-established Austrian company that is a leader in life-saving avalanche transceivers, has designed the EFM32 Cortex-M3 MCU into its top-of-the-range handheld avalanche monitor, the 'PIEPS VECTOR', for use by mountaineers and rescue services. Miitors, a developer of leading edge IP for water meter manufacturers, has created a new standard in smart meter designs using ultrasonic sensors and offering WMBus and NFC communication. With support from Energy Micro, Miitors has been able to achieve an ultra-low energy design that provides extreme long-life operation.

Low power applications like these utilize the EFM32's low-energy sensor interface (LESENSE) and peripheral reflex system (PRS) to provide autonomous monitoring of sensor inputs while the MCU remains in a sub-microamp Deep Sleep mode. In this way, the EFM32 Gecko devices enable customer designs to achieve the performance they need for responsive wake-on-touch control, routine data collection or wireless communication, in products where minimizing energy consumption and preserving battery life is vital.

Energy Micro supports its EFM32 microcontrollers with a range of starter and development kits and visitors to the booth may qualify to receive these free of charge. Other tools that will be on show include its 'energyAware' software, which profiles energy usage and helps designers remove energy bugs, and low-power technology demonstrators for capacitive touch and memory LCDs.

Energy Micro places a strong emphasis on education and training and is introducing a new online training program. Through a series of short on-demand video modules, this will provide an understanding of the energy-friendly features of the Gecko Technology and a greater insight into the various tools and software, enabling users to really get to grips with their starter or development kits. In addition, Energy Micro is working with its distribution partners to offer customer seminars that provide hands-on experience and an opportunity to 'meet the experts'. Distributors Avnet-Memec, Codico and Glyn will all be featuring Energy Micro on their booths at Embedded World.

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